FROM ADMKIDS.COM: “What's Wrong With Where We're Going? For starters, many athletes spend too much time traveling, competing and recovering from competition and not enough time preparing for it. Second, there is too heavy a focus on the result rather than the performance. This attitude leads to long-term failure, as coaches forgo the development of skills to focus on specific game tactics. And third, too many athletes are specializing too early on….capping athletic potential.”

The Columbus Youth Development Association (CYDA) provides an option for parents interested in righting the above wrong, and participating in a unique and intensive skill development program grounded in the principles of what long term athlete development (LTAD) research tells us is the right developmental path for young players.

CYDA Role

Because “traditional” games are not part of the Playmaker Program, CYDA is excited to be part of small but seismic shift in the hockey landscape in Central Ohio as we look to help expand opportunities for youth hockey parents and players interested in a unique developmental program based on high quality instruction, sufficient ice time, age-appropriate skill progressions and practice to game ratio, with on and off-ice instruction and feedback from a program. CYDA also works to find local competition and tournaments in which its players can play a handful of “traditional” games for fun and to demonstrate their skills in a new environment and hopes that the existing programs recognize it not as a threat but an exciting marker of the growth of this great sport in Ohio.